The list of players expected to visit Notre Dame for next Saturday’s game against USC jumps off the page and screams "phenoms."

John Theus, the nation’s top offensive tackle. Keith Marshall, the nation’s No. 24 overall player and one of the top running backs. Arik Armstead, a coveted two-way lineman and another guy who ranks among the nation’s 30 best players. Big-time offensive tackle Zach Banner.

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Shaq Thompson, a running back/defensive back who right now is ranked the 39th-best overall player but a guy whose ranking surely will be higher than that by the end of the year. Running back Byron Marshall, the nation’s 48th-best player. Linebacker Ifeadi Odenigbo, who sits one spot behind Byron Marshall.

In all, 10 members of CBS Sports Network recruiting analyst Tom Lemming’s preseason top 100 are expected to make official visits for the USC game, and if you’re scoring at home, that’s 10 percent of the nation’s best assembled for one game.

So yes, that in itself makes Saturday a monster game from a recruiting standpoint. But there are other reasons that push it into another stratosphere in terms of importance.

Keep momentum

Last year’s finish to recruiting was nothing short of phenomenal.

In the final month of the cycle, Notre Dame added or retained four defensive players — Aaron Lynch, Stephon Tuitt, Ishaq Williams and Troy Niklas — who have played significant minutes for this year’s 4-2 team.

Notre Dame’s coaches had to roll up their sleeves a little bit higher, beating Florida State (Lynch), Georgia Tech (Tuitt), Penn State (Williams) and USC (Niklas). If there were questions about a first-year staff’s ability to recruit at a high level, they were answered.

Championship squads, however, aren’t built on one class. They’re built on depth, meaning a staff can’t be satisfied that it did a good job one year and be content with a so-so class the next.

To date, this year’s group looks like class that will rank in the lower half of the top 10.

Securing visits from so many good players was a start. Impressing them is the next step. Closing is what will push this group closer to No. 1 than No. 10.

It’s electric

Let’s face it, the excitement generated at Notre Dame pales in comparison to some of the big-time venues at which the Irish have played in recent years.

The six-figure crowd at Penn State in 2007 was looking for blood, and it got it. The 114,000 at Michigan earlier this year got louder and louder as the night went on, with good reason.

Notre Dame Stadium? Just not that type of atmosphere. In fact, when things start going bad, you can almost sense the fear spreading through the crowd, and you wonder if it seeps into the home sideline.

If there’s going to be a rowdy/noisy/electric crowd, it’s going to be for the USC game. It’s ND’s biggest rival. It’s a night game. It’s a chance for the team to make a statement.

Recruits notice. Days after the 2005 epic loss to USC, then-recruit Raeshon McNeil spoke with energy about how he did pushups with the students. Four years after that game, Darrin Walls, another recruit visiting that day, talked about how it was the loudest he’d ever heard the stadium.

Recruits love to be loved. An energetic crowd can do its part to make this group feel the love.

Fashionably late

Primetime kickoffs on the road seem to be becoming the norm rather than the exception. But at Notre Dame Stadium? Doesn’t happen very often.

And that matters to recruiting because ...

Because it gives prospects more time to experience Notre Dame on gameday.

Let’s say the large number of official visitors from the west coast are making their trip for another game, one that starts at 3:30. If those players play a Friday night game, they either have to leave late Friday or catch the first flight Saturday morning. Even with a perfect travel day, the player may be pressed for time with a 3:30 kickoff.

The primetime game gives recruits more of the day to experience the campus, talk to academic advisors and see just what goes into a gameday at Notre Dame.

And let’s face it — they’re teenagers. They’re used to staying up late anyway.

Look west

Remember that impressive list referenced earlier? It includes six uncommitted (to Notre Dame, at least) players from California.

Two players — Armstead and wide receiver Jordan Payton — have close recruiting ties to USC. Armstead is committed there and Payton at one time was. Many of the others are the types of guys SC used to be able sign with a snap of its fingers.

NCAA sanctions have limited how many players the Trojans can sign, meaning some of the state’s top prospects could be looking to leave the state.

Add it all up, and you’ve got a large helping of recruits that can best be defined as High-Cal.

State of the program

Pollsters didn’t think ND’s fourth straight victory, last week against Air Force, was enough to warrant a spot in the top 25.

A win over USC would.

More than that, however, Notre Dame’s coaches can pound away at how the program is trending up. Forget about that dip in the middle of last year, the team won four straight to end the season, including a bowl game. The two losses to start this year? Long ago, they can say.

A victory over USC is five straight this season and two in a row over the traditional power.

Much of recruiting is about perception. And a victory over USC would further strengthen the thought that Notre Dame is a program on the rise.